As well as high productivity, food processing and packaging machines must, crucially, also provide for hygiene and food safety. Machines and components must therefore be designed for easy cleaning and to withstand aggressive operating conditions (such as corrosive media and fruit acids, cleaning agents, abrasive ingredients). Food must, moreover, never become contaminated in the processing environment.

Forming, filling and sealing machines for foods and beverages are often synchronised with packaging, labelling and boxing lines. Increasing competition, greater complexity, and the high demands placed on cleanliness and the materials used, necessitate innovative mechanical engineering solutions. Processing machinery, and the packaging materials and package shapes that are used, are equally diverse.